Boliden Odda fined NOK 5 million over a reserve it could not deliver
RME fined Boliden Odda NOK 5 million for committing reserve capacity during maintenance and raising an activation bid's price instead of reporting that the capacity was unavailable. On 20 June 2024 the Energy Appeals Board upheld the fine and treated the raised-price bid as completed, intentional manipulation rather than merely an attempt.
On this page
The decision
- Authority
- Norwegian Energy Regulatory Authority (RME) (RME), Norway
- Published
- 10 November 2023
- Participants
- Boliden Odda AS
- Commodity
- Electricity
- Market
- Norwegian mFRR capacity market (RKOM-H) and regulating power activation market (RK)
- Conduct period
- Weeks 40 and 42 of 2021 (4-10 and 18-24 October)
- REMIT equivalent
- Article 5 (Market manipulation)
- Legal basis
- Norwegian NEM regulation, chapter 5 (mirrors REMIT Article 5)
- Type of conduct
- Non-genuine balancing bid
- Penalty
- NOK 5,000,000
- Status
- Appeal dismissed and NOK 5,000,000 fine upheld by the Energy Appeals Board on 20 June 2024
What RME found
RME's decision of 10 November 2023 concerned Boliden's zinc plant, which offered reductions in electricity consumption as reserve capacity. The company received awards in the high-quality regulating-power options market, RKOM-H, for weeks 40 and 42 of 2021, despite maintenance running from 28 September to 21 October. RME found that the plant could not deliver the promised reduction in those periods. Boliden explained that the people submitting the bids did not know about the shutdown or its extension.
For week 42, RME found that Boliden discovered the problem after the capacity-bid deadline and consulted its adviser. On 15 October it raised the price of its 30 MW regulating-power bid to reduce the chance of activation. Statnett nevertheless called at about 07:05 on 18 October requesting the resource; Boliden subsequently reported that it could not deliver. RME found that the proper response would have been to notify Statnett, rather than keep an unavailable resource in the bid list at a higher price.
How it was established
Statnett alerted RME in October 2021. RME examined correspondence, Boliden's explanations and exchange bid data. It found that increased day-ahead sales during the maintenance period supported the finding of reduced consumption. RME calculated NOK 430,350 in capacity payments to Boliden across the two weeks and estimated that its bids reduced other capacity providers' earnings by NOK 1,335,890. It did not find an effect on regulating-power prices, since the unavailable bid could not be activated.
Boliden argued that misunderstandings and advice intended to avoid disturbing the market were not manipulation. RME held that the capacity-market test was objective: offering unavailable resources gave Statnett false signals regardless of the original mistake. It initially characterised the deliberate price increase as attempted manipulation. It also distinguished a separate June 2022 incident involving unforeseen maintenance and prompt notification, in which it had not found manipulation.
The penalty and appeal
RME found negligence in internal communication and bidding controls, stressing that external advice did not transfer the company's responsibility. It set NOK 5 million, weighing system-operation risks, preventability, capacity payments and effects on other providers. It mitigated for no earlier comparable decision and no finding that the original orders were placed to obtain profit. Boliden's cooperation had limited weight because RME already held substantial evidence.
The Energy Appeals Board dismissed Boliden's appeal in case 2024/0329 on 20 June 2024 and upheld the fine. It treated the conduct as completed manipulation, including the raised-price bid, and found that adjustment intentional. Its decision rejected reliance on staff ignorance or an external adviser to excuse the company's decision to retain a bid it knew it could not fulfil.
For a surveillance function
RME's decision requires availability information to reach those submitting reserve bids, with a route to notify Statnett when a commitment cannot be delivered. The appeal decision confirms that pricing an unavailable resource out of likely activation does not cure the original false signal.
Sources
- RME, Boliden Odda AS - Vedtak om overtredelsesgebyr, 10 November 2023 (Decision, in Norwegian)
- Energy Appeals Board, decision in case 2024/0329, 20 June 2024 (Decision, in Norwegian)
- RME, Boliden Odda AS faar gebyr paa 5 millioner, 10 November 2023 (Press release, in Norwegian)
Sources read on 27 October 2026. This page restates what the authority published and adds no finding of its own. A decision under appeal is not final, and its status may have changed since: check the source before relying on it.